Retreating to Heal: A Collective Autoethnographic Poetic Inquiry Into Motherfull Writing Spaces

Session Type: Demonstration/Performance

Abstract

In this demonstration, five motherscholars share poetic forms (autoethnographic individual poetry and psalms, collective multivocal poetry, ekphrastic literature review, found poetry) that illuminate the power of writing retreats as motherfull spaces. In doing so, we have two aims: (a) to contribute to emergent literature on the concept of motherscholaring writing retreats and (b) to offer methodological contributions to collective autoethnographic poetic inquiry as an arts-based mode of teacher education self-study. Our moves toward justice through motherscholaring poetic inquiry connects to the AERA 2022 conference theme that asks us as educators to “dismantle, redesign, . . .reconstruct [and] reimagine systems” of education that have resulted in injustice for historically excluded people.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Arts-Based Educational Research

Chair

• Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, University of Nottingham

Papers

• Retreating to Heal: A Collective Autoethnographic Poetic Inquiry Into Motherfull Writing Spaces - Joy Howard, Western Carolina University; Timberly Baker, Arkansas State University; Candace M. Thompson, University of North Carolina - Wilmington; Amy E. Swain, East Carolina University; Kindel Turner Nash, Appalachian State University